Rain gear is a must this week as we have multiple rounds of widespread, heavy rain expected in the Tennessee Valley. This could cause flooding issues, so we want you to be on guard and prepared for what’s to come. The rest of today will be relatively uneventful, with an overcast sky and very spotty showers overnight. Widespread heavy rain moves in Tuesday morning as we are getting up and starting our day. No thunder expected Tuesday, but the entire viewing are will receive a good soaking. Rain continues Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. Again, rain is expected to be heavy at times, so use caution traveling especially in areas that typically flood.
Better thunderstorm parameters remain mostly south of our area Wednesday. The 12Z GFS barely has instability and 60° dew points nosing into our southern viewing area. We will keep watching if these parameters trend northward. For now, expect heavy rain and maybe a few rumbles of thunder Wednesday afternoon. We will still be monitoring for a flooding threat Wednesday. In fact, that will last through the weekend. We will catch a brief break from the rain Thursday and Friday! If you need to do anything outdoors this week, those are the two days to get it done.
Forecasters at the Weather Prediction Center have highlighted the Tennessee Valley for flooding potential Tuesday and Wednesday in the Excessive Rainfall Outlook. The takeaway here, we have a slight risk of excessive rainfall. Through Wednesday, we could see up to 3 inches of rain. That could start to cause some issues, especially heading into Wednesday. We have an additional heavy rain chance Saturday, paired with thunderstorms. By the time that system is out of here Saturday night, we could be talking a grand total of 5-7 inches of rain throughout the viewing area, which is in line with the forecast from the National Weather Service.
I do want to briefly touch on Saturday on its own. We are watching a strong to severe thunderstorm setup somewhere in the Southeast US for Saturday. Large-scale parameters support this thinking, so we will be watching smaller-scale parameters in the coming days. Stay tuned for updates on Saturday’s forecast.
